Today's Stories - Emily

This series will be comprised of both real people that lived ages ago and real people that are still alive today. By looking to great men and women (and children!) from the past, I think we'll be able to glean a lot of courage and timeless principles, as these people are found in eras long before ours. Through learning more about wonderful people alive right now, we can find role-models and living examples for what it means to "not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Both Today's Stories and Yesterday's Stories are worthy of being told.

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The first story is of a girl that we'll call Emily.

I originally met Emily many moons ago when I was but a wee lad; however, we got reconnected last year as good friends.

My first recollection of Emily was sitting with her and a set of other people as we discussed a particular speech we had recently heard. Much of the speech dealt a lot with God's forgiveness. What it meant, where it came from, and how it applies today.

I very vividly remember talking about this speech around a table with everyone giving their thoughts and opinions. We're all good at that, right? After a few moments of silence from everyone, Emily piped up.

"Man, it is just so incredible to think about. Like, how God would forgive us humans? It's amazing."

She said it with such sincerity in her voice and face, you could have been deaf and still believed her every word.

Wow. That blew me away. This kind of real, truly life-altering faith isn't something you come across everyday. Most people don't really just... say things like that out of the blue. Not without feeling awkward or out of place or ashamed. I knew that there was something rather amazing about this young woman, and over the course of the next year I got to continually see that.

Yes, Emily went on multiple Gospel outreaches. She's helped around with lots of volunteer ministries and been all over the place serving Jesus in action. Even now, she's working extremely diligently to become involved in Gospel ministries outside of her own church body, and it's great!

What's even greater by far, though, is the fact that Emily's dish, as Jesus put it, is clean both on the outside as well as the inside. Her spirit is gentle, loving and one of the most humble I know. Think about it; when was the last time you talked to someone outside your family where you weren't at least a little bit defensive. I'm sure you've experienced it; watching everything you say carefully to try to impress them, worrying about whether or not you're acting cooler than them, and being generally self conscious about your image.

I have never once felt that way around Emily.

She is humility personified in her words and deeds, and I know that all of that comes from Jesus, which makes it so special. So real. Her prayers are diligent and her actions are noble. I'm not calling Emily by her real name because if I did, she would have wished I hadn't.

Now, remember: Emily is not perfect. She has flaws, shortcomings, sins in her life that she struggles with as much as the next Christian teenage girl. She would be the first to admit it Even through those, though, I've seen a whole lot of Christ-exalting attributes in her life.

She inspires me, and that is a great thing. That deserves to be recognized.

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"Embodied within that hope is the fundamental belief in the potential of every person to be a force for good. That's what you can bring them."
Andrew